Saugus handicap ramp plan in the works

SAUGUS – Town Meeting member Al DiNardo is taking action to right what he sees as a dangerous wrong in town by seeking a bond to install handicap ramps all around town.DiNardo is putting together an article for the next special Town Meeting that calls for the town to bond $100,000 specifically for handicap ramps.”If someone in a wheelchair is in Cliftondale there is no way to get to the Square One Mall without going into the street,” he said. “We are not ADA (American with Disabilities Act) compliant.”DiNardo attempted to amend an article during Town Meeting earlier this month to direct $92,000 toward installing handicap ramps but it failed. The money is being used to install new sidewalks instead but some of those will come with new ramps.Department of Public Works Superintendent Joseph Attubato said the town has replaced some ramps, certainly when they come to them in the course of rebuilding sidewalks.”We’ve been doing ramps, just not much this year,” Attubato said.Attubato said he actually suggested to DiNardo that if he was serious about getting the ramps done he should seek a bond.DiNardo said he called Town Manager Andrew Bisignani who told him there was bonding capacity available.”But don’t forget you have to pay that money back,” Bisignani said. “If (DiNardo) wants to do it though he can take it to the Sidewalk Committee and Town Meeting will decide.”DiNardo serves on the Sidewalk Committee but Chairman Peter Manoogian said the committee has not been apprised of DiNardo’s plan.”I received an email about it, but the committee has not met on the matter,” he said. “He is acting as an individual Town Meeting member.”Manoogian said the committee plans to meet in September and DiNardo said he planned to bring it to the table then.What spurred DiNardo into action, he said, is the number of phone calls he’s received about the issue and the fact that the lack of ramps could affect just about anyone.”It’s a demographic we all could be in one day,” he said. “I just want to let the public know I’m setting this agenda. We need a master plan and we need to get to it.”